The director and a journalist of a weekly magazine in Niger were detained after an electricity company chief accused them of defamation, the country`s journalists` association said Thursday.

Authorities in Niger have decided to detain the editor of a weekly magazine arrested for allegedly defaming a government minister until next week when his trial opens, his colleague said on Tuesday.

Zakari Alzouma, editor of Opinion magazine, was arrested on Thursday after he questioned the role of Interior Minister Albade Abouba in transport arrangements for Muslim pilgrims to Mecca.

Police in the west African nation of Niger have extended by 48 hours the detention of an editor of a weekly magazine held for allegedly defaming a government minister, his colleague said on Saturday.

The Supreme Court of Niger has issued an arrest warrant for former justice minister Maty Moussa after indicting him for illicitly acquiring wealth between 2001 and 2007, his lawyer said Saturday.

The lawyer, Yahaya Abdou, told reporters that the court on Friday `accused my client of having `illicit wealth`, being in possession of a property which his income cannot afford`.

The editor of a weekly magazine in the West African state of Niger was detained Thursday after a complaint by a government minister that he had been defamed, an official said.

French aid group Medecins sans Frontieres announced Wednesday it was withdrawing from Niger, more than three months after authorities in the poverty-stricken west African state suspended its activities.

MSF (Doctors Without Borders) said it took the decision after asking Niger President Mamadou Tandja to immediately allow a resumption of its work in the south central region of Maradi.

A leading trade union body in the poverty-stricken west African state of Niger called Wednesday for a ban on the work of a French medical charity to be lifted,

Niger on Tuesday said it will adhere to a landmark ruling against the state for failing to protect a woman sold into slavery when she was 12, but criticised the handling of the case.

NIAMEY, Oct 27, 2008 (AFP) - West African judges Monday found the state of Niger guilty of failing to protect a woman sold into slavery at the age of 12, in a case with implications across the region.

NIAMEY, Oct 27, 2008 (AFP) - West African judges Monday fined the state of Niger the equivalent of 15,000 euros for failing to protect a woman sold into slavery, in a landmark ruling with implications across the region.

West African judges Monday fined the state of Niger the equivalent of 15,000 euros for failing to protect a woman sold into slavery aged 12, in a landmark ruling with implications across the region.

NIAMEY, Oct 23, 2008 (AFP) - Authorities in Niger have banned a demonstration in support of former prime minister Hama Amadou, who is being held on corruption charges, his party said Thursday.

Amadou is chairman of the ruling National Movement for the Development of Society (MNSD), to which President Mamadou Tandja also belongs.

A lawyer for a former Niger prime minister facing embezzlement charges hit out Tuesday at the `unjust` sacking of three Supreme Court judges who were set to rule on his case.

The judges, sacked October 10, have since been replaced, Hama Amadou`s lawyer Marc Lebihan told a press conference.

Niger`s health minister is resting by his decision to ban a French medical charity, saying the state could do its work, it was reported Monday.

National radio broadcast remarks by Issa Lamine the day before asking members of the nation`s parliament not to seek to overturn his decision to suspend the activities of Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF, Doctors without Borders).

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Niger`s capital Niamey on Sunday to call for the release of a former prime minister who has been detained for almost four months.

Long seen as the probable succesor to incumbent President Mamadou Tandja, Hama Amadou has been held in a high security jail west of Niamey since his arrest on June 26 for alleged embezzlement.

LAGOS, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Tuareg rebels in Niger carried out a fatal attack on an army detachment in the north of the country, according to a statement on their website Wednesday.

The Movement of Niger People for Justice (MNJ) said the raid early Tuesday at Eroug, near to Gougaram in the north, left 'several people dead' among the military.

NIAMEY, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Moussa Kaka, a prominent radio journalist in Niger, was released provisionally on Tuesday after one year in detention for allegedly undermining state security.

Last month an appeals court in Niamey revised the original charge of 'complicity to undermine the authority of the state' to the less serious 'actions liable to harm national defence.'

NIAMEY, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - An appeals court in Niger ordered Tuesday the provisional release of a prominent radio journalist detained for just over a year for allegedly undermining state security, his lawyer said.

Moussa Kaka, a correspondent for Radio France Internationale (RFI), was arrested in September 2007 over telephone calls he made to Tuareg rebels based in the north.

NIAMEY, Sept 30, 2008 (AFP) - It is poor, dry and has more sunshine than it knows what to do with. But despite years of experience with solar power, Niger continues to use cow dung and wood for fuel.

NIAMEY, Sept 29, 2008 (AFP) - Twelve villagers were stabbed to death in inter-communal clashes last week over stock theft in the western Niger region of Ouallam, public radio said on Monday.

NIAMEY, Sept 29, 2008 (AFP) - Niger on Monday banned dairy product imports from China in the wake of the Asian giant's contamination scandal, Commerce Minister Halidou Badje said.

'To prevent any possible health consequences related to the scandal, it is strictly prohibited until further notice to import milk and all dairy products from China,' Badji told reporters.

NIAMEY, Sept 27, 2008 (AFP) - A prominent radio journalist in Niger has begun his second year in prison despite an order for his release and a ruling that charges against him be dropped.

NIAMEY, Sept 24, 2008 (AFP) - Senior officials in French broadcasting have called on Niger's President Mamadou Tandja to show clemency in the case of a journalist held for more than a year, television here reported.

NIAMEY, Sept 16, 2008 (AFP) - An appeal court in Niamey revised charges against a Radio France International journalist on Tuesday, as his lawyer called on judges to throw the case out completely.

BAMAKO, September 2, 2008 (AFP) - The Malian army began searching for suspects Tuesday after four nomadic Tuareg civilians were found shot dead in the northern Gao region, military and other sources said.

NIAMEY, August 26, 2008 (AFP) - Journalists from public media outlets in Niger would launch a two-day strike on Wednesday over demands for pay increases already enjoyed by other state employees, their union announced.

NIAMEY, August 24, 2008 (AFP) - An anti-tank mine explosion killed one person and wounded 40 others Sunday in the courtyard of a gendarmerie in Niger at a ceremony to mark the decision of an ethnic group to end its rebellion.

The government of Mali and separatist Tuareg rebels have agreed to hold a new round of talks later ...

Niger`s Court of Appeal Tuesday refused to provisionally release jailed journalist Moussa Kaka, ...

Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi has asked Tuareg separatist rebels operating in Mali and Niger to lay ...

A US-led team of archaeologists said Thursday they had discovered by chance what is believed to be ...

US archaeologists have discovered the largest known burial ground of the Stone Age in the Sahara ...

NIAMEY, July 29, 2008 (AFP) - Niger's Court of Appeal is to rule next month whether to release jailed Radio France International correspondent Moussa Kaka, his legal team said Tuesday after a court hearing.

Moussa Coulibaly and William Bourdon petitioned the court Tuesday after the state lodged an appeal last week against a court order to free the Niger-based journalist.

PARIS, July 26, 2008 (AFP) - French NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said Saturday it was lobbying government officials in Niger to allow it to continue its aid work, after it was ordered to suspend activities there.

PARIS, July 25, 2008 (AFP) - France said Friday it was worried about a report the Niger government has ordered the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) aid group to suspend its work in the south central Maradi region.

NIAMEY, July 25, 2008 (AFP) - Niger prosecutors again appealed Friday against a court order to free imprisoned Radio France correspondent in Niger Moussa Kaka, the prosecution service said.

The appeal, hours before a legal deadline for the move expired, came two days after a senior judge ruled there was no case to answer against Kaka and ordered the charges dropped.

NIAMEY, July 23, 2008 (AFP) - The judge in the case of the imprisoned Radio France correspondent in Niger, Moussa Kaka, has ruled there is no case to answer and dropped charges, Radio Saraounia said Wednesday.

NIAMEY, July 4, 2008 (AFP) - Unions in Niger on Friday called for a general strike next week over power cuts that have dogged the capital Niamey and several other cities for months.

NIAMEY, July 4, 2008 (AFP) - Unions in Niger o